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9Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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The party of the donkey is the party which saved the Democracy, from the elephant extremists.
The Democrats Remain In Control
The Democrats remain in control of the Senate and may actually have picked up a seat where the vice president doesn’t have to cast a vote to be the tie breaker. On Dec. 6th, there will be a run-off vote in Georgia, because no one candidate received 50%, if the Democrats win that race they will have a good solid cushion in the Senate, and frankly slap the Republicans a little bit more, which they deserve. The House could possibly go to the democrats but most likely will be won by a narrow margin by the Republicans. The verdict is still out on the House races, because races too close to call. In Democratic-leaning and swing states, voters last week delivered a distinctive cry of resistance to the restrictive Republican social agenda symbolized by the drive to ban abortion. But in red states where Republicans have actually imposed that agenda over the past two years, GOP governors cruised to reelection without any noticeable repercussion. That sharp difference emphasized the deepness of the divide between red and blue America and points toward the further partitioning of the nation into opposing values, and increasingly hostile, sections living under fundamentally different rules for civil rights and liberties. Last week’s results could all together embolden red state Republicans to continue advancing the militantly conservative social agenda they have pursued since 2021 on abortion and other issues like voting and book bans – while also making clear that such an agenda is electorally untenable outside of those core GOP states. The drive to regulate social policy is still really strong and perhaps growing in a lot of red states, in states where the right to abortion was viewed as being threatened, the pro-choice momentum really helped Democrats. Which clearly was the driver for the democrats to take over many red seats in the senate and where the republicans were struck dumb by the number of seats that they didn’t win in the House. The republicans touted that they were going to have a tsunami Red Wave as they called it, and thought they were going to gain at least 15-25 seats in the House. Their Red Wave was more like a dribble. On a national basis, Democrats defied the history of big first-term midterm losses for the president’s party. Biden had the best election outcome for midterms in history. Democrats carried independents by even larger margins in the key blue and purple state governor races, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona, the exit polls found. Michigan now has three women running that state. Those striking results, even among such discontent over the economy and the president’s performance, emphasized how many voters view the agenda of the Trump-era GOP as a threat to their rights, their values and to democracy itself. That’s precisely the agenda the red states are executing. American voters showed that we don’t want these MAGA Trump Republicans to take us backward, we want to go forward. We want our democracy saved, intact, functioning, and we want the old America back before Trump came along. Some called the democrat win as the Roe wave drove decisive Democratic victories in gubernatorial races in blue-leaning or swing states where abortion is now legal. That list included Maine, Connecticut, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico and California. Even Kansas, yes I said Kansa, which defeated a constitutional amendment last summer intended to pave the way toward banning abortion, reelected pro abortion-rights Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. In several of those states especially Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Michigan, Democrats scored gains in state legislative races as well. In places where people have become used to having these rights and freedoms, the idea that they would be taken away overpowered other things they might have been concerned about, such as the economy. The bad news is the Roe wave failed to breach the Republican defenses in the states that constitute what could be called “the red citadel” – the 23 states where Republicans held unified control of the government heading into the midterm election. It will be very hard to break these states because they are enshrined in religious scripture of controlling others in their lives if their lives don’t concede with Republicans, men controlling women and fundamental religious driven politics. More than ever after this year’s stunning election results, red and blue America looks like two separate nations, hurtling toward hostile and threateningly incompatible visions of what the country should be. I’m afraid the division will continue for many years to come. Watch the Hand Maidens Tale, that’s what a Red Wave, a Republican America would look like.
Tammy
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